Best Basic CD Player (no SACD, USB, etc.)


Hey guys! Old dude here! My Panasonic SL-PJ316 CD player took a dump after years of faithful service. I started looking around for a replacement only to discover CD players with price tags into the thousands of dollars!! WTH??  Ok, I know there is SACD, USB, bluetooth, etc. BUT, I am not going to try and re-purchase my entire CD collection of almost 40 years to buy a SACD player. And, from what I've read, the USB, streaming lot seems to cause problems in certain players. ALL I need is a high quality, basic CD player that won't cost thousands of dollars. Any suggestions? Yamaha? NAD? Marantz? I'm "all ears". Thanks, for the advice. Best regards, Rob

shutupuface

@cal91 Excuse me, check the archives.

Here`s a list of retailers- Audio Advisor, Crutchfield, Music Direct, and Upscale Audio.

 

+1 Rega Apollo.

Denon, and Rotel.

An SACD player would not cause you to resign buy your collection. It will still play regular cds as well.

SACD capability will add cost to the player.

i didn't see the OP providing the budget expressly. But $300 should get a nice CD player. What about the always thrown into the discussion Oppo 103 (?) that goes for $300 (used)?

Just before the holidays several dealers were offering the Denon DCD-1600NE for $899 (normal price $1499).  Couldn't resist at that price. I can highly recommend this player.  The price has gone up since but it is still a very good bargain.  Well built, nice looking but more importantly very nice sounding.  It will play all your normal CD's beautifully as well as SACD's.  No fluff.  Simple basic player.

Tonal quality is very nice.  Well detailed and balanced.  Nice spacious soundstage. Compared to my much more expensive Marantz Ruby I was surprised how nicely this player held up in comparison.

Good luck.

 

I’ve been using an Onkyo C-7030 for the past five years (light use each year), and it continues to work fine. It also sounds very good for such an inexpensive player. I purchased mine on Amazon back in late 2017 for about $175 which included an Amazon 4 year extended warranty. The first year of the warranty overlaps with the one year warranty from Onkyo, so the extended warranty really covers three years. However, the warranty at the time was less than $10.

The C-7030 also has both coaxial and optical outputs in case you want to use the C-7030 as a transport with a separate d to a converter.

The C-7030 is presently selling on Amazon for under $300 for brand new units.

In retrospect, the $175 price was ridiculously inexpensive at the time, and IMO the current price is more inline with the true value of the C-7030.

Best of luck with your search!